Adult Deliberate Firesetting. Theresa A. Gannon

Чтение книги онлайн.

1 Deliberate Firesetting A Prevalent Yet Neglected Clinical Issue

      Deliberate firesetting represents a major global public health issue (Tyler et al., 2019a). As such, criminal justice and mental health responses need to be aligned in order to be effective in reducing this type of (re)offending. The evidence base to inform prevention and intervention strategies has, until fairly recently, lacked robust, comparative designs to comprehensively capture whether individuals who set fires have unique characteristics that require tailored rehabilitation approaches. Further, aetiological theories, drawing on the limited evidence base, have typically lacked scope and explanatory power (see Hooker, 1987 or Ward et al., 2006). Likely driven by a recognition of the human cost of firesetting globally and the lack of literature outlining ways of working with this population, there has been a surge over the past decade in research outputs that rigorously and systematically addresses this gap in knowledge. With this surge have come methodological challenges. In this chapter, we review issues pertaining to definitional and measurement constraints. We also present the wider context in which firesetting literature is situated, highlighting some of the founding pillars on which recent research developments are based. The aim of this chapter is to introduce researchers and practitioners to the key concepts and disciplines that have shaped our current understanding of deliberate firesetting in adults.

      Definitions, Terms, and Labels

Clear, consistently used terms and definitions enable developments in science and clinical practice alike. They also act as aide memoires to the varying motivations underpinning the aims and objectives of their use, whether it be for legal records and/or comparative research. To date, various terms have been used in the literature that refer to the deliberate and often criminal act of setting fires. Arson—most commonly defined as the intentional destruction of property, using fire, for unlawful purposes—is a legal term that is internationally recognised (Kolko, 2002; Williams, 2005). When used in research, arson typically refers to officially recorded incidents (e.g., charge, offence, conviction). As a result, research that adopts this term and definition is typically limited to known or documented incidents of fire. A further limitation is that the term arson does not account for people who are not convicted of arson despite having set deliberate fires (Dickens et al., 2012). Sometimes, for example, a deliberately set fire may not reach the burden of proof necessary for an arson conviction, or the individual who set the fire may have escaped official detection by authorities. Clinicians often work with clients who disclose criminal behaviour not officially recorded. However, the behaviour, and its associated criminogenic factors, still warrant attention.

      In the clinical context, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013) outlines a diagnosis of pyromania for individuals who (1) deliberately set fire on more than one occasion; (2) experience affective and/or physiological arousal prior to the firesetting incident; (3) exhibits a fascination with fire; (4) experiences pleasure, gratification, or relief when interacting with fire and/or its consequences. This diagnosis, however, is significantly constrained by exclusion criteria. In order to be diagnosed with pyromania, the firesetting cannot have been motivated by financial gain, socio-political ideology, revenge, or the desire to cover up other criminal behaviour or improve one’s living situation. The firesetting must also not have occurred in the context of psychotic symptoms, intellectual impairment, or intoxication and should not be best explained by any other diagnoses (i.e., conduct disorder, mania, antisocial personality disorder). Given these constraints, it is unsurprising that pyromania diagnoses are very rare (Gannon & Pina, 2010; Ó Ciardha et al., 2017). Consequently, researchers have had limited ability to examine any possible pyromania aetiology. In fact, given the rarity of pyromania diagnoses, the utility of such a concept for researchers or treatment professionals is at best questionable.

      The term firesetting or fire setting refers to any act of deliberately setting fire. This wide-ranging umbrella term is the domain within which clinicians typically operate. That is, the term firesetting captures varied motivations and clinical symptomatology, as well as incidents both officially and unofficially recorded. As such, the term firesetting is used throughout this book except when describing research that focusses specifically on one of the subset terms described earlier. The term fire-raising also appears in the literature, typically used synonymously with firesetting. While it was СКАЧАТЬ